


Two Wongs Don't Make a Rick

by flibbertygigget



Series: Rick and Wong [3]
Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Gen, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-18
Updated: 2017-11-18
Packaged: 2019-02-03 18:35:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12753870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flibbertygigget/pseuds/flibbertygigget
Summary: "This," says Rick, taking a long sip from his bottle, "is a fucking intervention."Dr. Wong gets a new patient, Dr. Wong gets a new therapist, and Rick continues to pretend he doesn't give a shit.





	Two Wongs Don't Make a Rick

Dr. Wong doesn't even blink when a portal opens in front of her now. She really should, she thinks, and it's a testament to just how messed up her life and, quite frankly, life on Earth has become that when it happens she almost expects it. What she doesn't expect, though, is how Rick doesn't sit down across from her. Instead, he pulls her up.

"Come on, come on, we need to go," he mutters.

"Mr. Sanchez, what's going on?" Dr. Wong says, digging her heels in as she's pushed towards the portal. It doesn't matter how many times she's seen him go in and out of it, she still doesn't feel quite comfortable going through it herself. Maybe that's a good thing, a sign that she's still sane in spite of the insanity that's been happening.

"Look, I was in Dimension C-153, don't ask why, and, well, I-I just need you to see this."

"Why?"

"Why are you asking so many fucking questions? God, just-just trust me on this."

"Rick, I respect you. I even admire you in some respects. But I definitely do not trust you." Rick glares at her for a moment before shrugging.

"Eh, fair enough. But, look, Doctor, I..." The words seem to stick in his throat for a second, and Dr. Wong finds it absolutely fascinating. "I wouldn't be bringing you into this if I had any other options. Fuck, you know me. You know how I feel about shit like this. But this - this needs your bullshit. You're the only one who can help me with this."

"I think I'm owed more of an explanation than that," Dr. Wong says, but she lets herself be steered towards the portal. What he's saying is true, even if he's saying it in the most dickish way possible, and that's something that's almost revolutionary by Rick's standards.

"Look, i-it's kind of hard to explain, okay? You'll get it when you see it, Scout's honor."

"You don't really seem the type to be in Scouts," Dr. Wong says as she steps through the portal. Rick grins.

"What, I don't look mentally awake and morally straight?" he says. Dr. Wong snorts.

"Mentally awake, maybe. But helpful, courteous, and kind..?" Normally, she wouldn't be so blunt towards her patients, but she knows Rick far better than most of her patients, even the ones who came in every week rather than every other. Rick snorts.

"Just get in the fucking portal," he says. Dr. Wong complies, partly because she knows that Rick won't drop it no matter how she argues, but also partly because... well, she's his therapist. Rick has never seemed to consider his interdimensional adventures worth talking to her about, preferring to stick with problems a bit closer to Earth - this dimension's Earth, that is. Dr. Wong has a feeling that several things would be more clear if he let her in on that aspect of his life, but she knows it won't help to push him. Still, this could be her chance at a glimpse, and she's too good a therapist (and, if she's being honest, too curious a human being) to pass that up.

She squeezes her eyes shut as she walks through the portal. Surprisingly, there's no real sensation as she goes through, just a faint, high-pitched buzz. She opens her eyes to find that nothing has changed. She's still in her office. The coffee table and comfy chairs are gathering dust, the walls have faded slightly, but it's definitely still her office. She turns to look at Rick.

"Why did you bring me here?" she says. "It's just..." Rick shakes his head.

"Wait," he says. She takes a step towards her usual chair, hesitates, and sits on the couch. If she were the one to walk into her office and see herself, she would certainly want her own chair. Rick sits beside her, absent-mindedly playing with the cap of his water bottle.

The door opens, and Dr. Wong stares at herself. The other Dr. Wong looks older, more tired. She stands in the doorway, jaw clenched, whole body held tight like a fist.

"Who the hell are you and what the hell are you doing here?" she says, all fear and anger coiled in a spring.

"This," says Rick, taking a long sip from his bottle, "is a fucking intervention."

"It's a fair question, Rick," Dr. Wong says. "You didn't even bother telling me what was going on."

"You're the therapist. Figure it out."

"Something happened in this dimension, something - something different from ours. Somehow I-"

"The world doesn't revolve around you, Jesus. No, other shit happened here. In this dimension, the Federation didn't leave, and since Rick C-153 died when... well, shit went down. Point is, I visited and ended up messing up the Federation in _this_ dimension, too. They ran like little bitches, and now-"

"And now you want me to do... what exactly? What am I doing here?"

"Haven't I told you not to play dumb with me?" The other Dr. Wong collapses in her chair, arms tightening around herself.

"Why the fuck can't you just leave Earth alone? Haven't you fucking it up enough already?" she says, voice raw.

"Trust me, I have no intention of coming back to this dimension ever again." Rick opens another portal. "I'll be back in two hours." He steps through the portal, and Dr. Wong is left alone with herself.

"Well," she says, "this definitely wasn't what I was planning on doing this afternoon." The other Dr. Wong looks a bit more relaxed now that Rick is gone, but she still seems... different, in a way that's so subtle she seems to be screaming it.

"Why are you here?" the other Dr. Wong says. "And who was that - that alien?"

"Rick Sanchez isn't an alien. Sometimes he seems that way, but he's just as human as you or I, just horrifically smart and horrifically dickish." The other her twitches slightly at the swear word, eyes narrowing in confusion. "As for why I'm here... well, I think I know what Rick wants. Why he thinks I could help you at all is another question entirely."

"You - The aliens didn't come to your world, did they?"

"Oh, they came," Dr. Wong says. "They were only in my dimension for seven months, but they did come."

"They were here for years," the other her says. "Years and years and - and then that man came here. I don't see why-" She sucks in a deep breath, visibly trying to hold herself together. "I don't see why he came at all."

"What do you mean?"

"It's too late to go back now!" Dr. Wong has to force herself not to raise an eyebrow at her counterpart's outburst. She had thought that this Dr. Wong was her, just a little more traumatized, but now she knows that can't be true. She would never say that.

"I find that hard to believe, coming from you."

"You're a naive fool," the other Dr. Wong hisses. "You haven't seen how the world is now. You haven't seen beyond our own fucking office. It's _chaos_."

"It will be rebuilt, in time. Just as you can-"

"No, it's - it's alien shit out there. All our work, all of it, it's-"

"It can be rebuilt." The other Dr. Wong wrenches away from her eye contact. "Listen to me. I can't tell you why the Rick of your universe let this go on for so long. I can't begin to conceptualize the rebuilding that will have to happen. But what I can do is try to help you in the only way we both know."

"It's not going to work." The other her sounds so tired, so utterly resigned to her fate.

"If you don't try, of course it won't work. All we can do is try to fix all this. Besides, Rick wouldn't have bothered bringing me here if he hadn't thought that we could do this." A portal opens behind her. "That's my cue. I'll be seeing you in a week or two, I expect." Dr. Wong begins to step through the portal.

"Wait!" She stops, one leg stuck through the glowing green oval. The other Dr. Wong stands and thrusts a dirty, creased business card into her hand. "I'm - I'm going to give you my card and I hope to hear from you again. Have a nice rest of your day." It's just a spiel, practiced and repeated at the end of every session, but it gives Dr. Wong hope. It's a small step, to be sure, but a step towards normalcy nonetheless.

"You as well," she says, taking the card and stepping the rest of the way through the portal. Rick's still there, lying on the couch like existence is just too boring of a concept to cope with at the moment.

"So," he says, "how'd it go?" Dr. Wong shrugs.

"Why did you take me there, really?" It's Rick's turn to shrug now.

"That dimension is waaaay too fucked up. They need a fucking therapist, and that Wong wasn't fit to do anything."

"Mmm." She smiles a little. "And how much does this have to do with your unfortunate ability to give a shit?"

"Not a fucking thing," says Rick with a grin.


End file.
